Brian Moylan

The Martha Stewart-Rachael Ray feud is amazing on paper: two head-strong domestic divas (one with a rap sheet) going at it in the press. It could have been as juicy as the Tropicana warehouse. Now it's ended with a whimper.

On her show today, Martha Stewart apologized for remarks she made against her fellow daytime cooking queen during a recent Nightline segment.

I just want to take this opportunity just to address some comments that are circulating on the Internet regarding me and Rachael Ray. And just for the record there are no bad feeling between us nor have there ever been. I truly believe that Rachael has done a terrific job bringing people, many people who would of never of even stepped into the kitchen or made a dish to cook. I applaud Rachel for her enthusiastic approach to cooking and I really had a great time being a guest on her show and it was a lot of fun to have her on this show making pie with me to. Come on back Rachael, anytime you want and I hope you have a Yum-o Thanksgiving."

God, Martha. Where is the vitriol? Where is the cattiness? We don't want to see you being sweet and contrite—we want to see the fangs!

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Anyway, this whole thing started when Martha said that Rachael Ray rewrites recipes from her old books and magazines for her new books, and said this isn't "good enough for me." She continued, "[Ray is] more of an entertainer, with her bubbly personality, than she is a teacher like me."

Ray pretty much agreed with her, making the whole spat a non-started. She told Cynthia McFadden in the same segment that Martha's claims are "true" and that she would "rather eat Martha's [meal] than mine." Way to make us like you by being honest, Rachael. We hate that.

Maybe the reason Martha wanted to sweep this whole thing under the carpet with an apology is because she engages in the same re-editing technique that she accused Ray of. A former editor in the Martha Stewart empire told us that a number of recipes from Stewart's recent books are reedited versions of things that appeared in her magazines, often only with new names and photographs. People in glass houses, no matter how finely appointed, shouldn't be throwing stones. Good thing for Martha that Rachael is way too much of a lady to go toe-to-toe with her in the jail yard.